The Anatomy of Story

-a scene is generally one action in one time and place. It is the basic unit of what actually happens in the story, right now, as the audience experiences it. The scene weave is the sequence of these units. To be a great storyteller, you must create a weave that is like a fine tapestry, picking up one thread for a moment before letting that thread dip back under the surface before appearing again a bit later on

-the scene weave, also known as the scene list, scene outline, or scene breakdown, is the final step before writing your full story or script. It is a list of every scene you believed will be in the final story, along with a tag for any scene in which a structure step occurs

-the scene weave is an extremely valuable step in the writing process. Like the seven steps, character web, and revelations sequence, it is a way of seeing how the story fits together beneath the surface

-the scene weave is really an extension of the plot. It is your plot in minute detail. The point of the scene weave is to get one last look at the overall architecture of the story before writing it. Therefore, don’t go into too much detail, because this will hide the structure. Try to describe each scene in one line

-notice that only the single essential action of each scene is listed. If you keep your description to one or two lines, you will be able to list your scene weave in a few pages. Next to the scene description, list any structure step (such as desire, plan, or apparent defeat) that is accomplished during that scene. Some scenes will have these structure tags, but many will not

-be prepared to change your scene weave when you start writing individual scenes

-when it comes to actually writing a scene, you may find that the basic action occurring in that scene is not what you thought. You will only know that for sure when you get “inside” the scene and write it. So be flexible. What’s important at this point in the process is to get an overview of what you think the single main action of each scene will be

-be aware that the average Hollywood movie has forty to seventy scenes

-once you have the complete scene weave before you, see if you need to make the following changes:

-Reorder Scenes. First, focus on getting the overall sequences of the story right. Then look at the juxtapositions between individual scenes

-Combine Scenes. Writers often create a new scene for no other reason than to get in a good line of dialogue. Whenever possible, combine scenes so that each one is packed, but make sure each scene accomplishes essentially one action

-Cut or add scenes. Always trim fat. Remember, story pacing has to do not only with the length of a scene but also with the choice of scenes. Once you have trimmed all the fat, you may find gaps in the scene weave the require a whole new scene. If so, add it to the list in the right spot

-order the scenes by structure, not chronology

-you want to choose a scene by how it furthers the development of the hero. If it doesn’t further that development or set it up in a crucial way, cut the scene.

-this technique guarantees that every scene in the story is essential and in the right order. Typically, you end up with a chronological scene sequence, but not always

-pay special attention to the juxtaposition of scenes

-especially in film and tv, where the change of scene or story line is instantaneous, the juxtaposition of two scenes can be more important than what happens in any individual scene. In these juxtapositions, you want to look first at the contrast of content. In what way, if at all, does the next scene comment on the previous scene?

-then look at the contrast of proportion and pacing. Does the next scene or section have the right importance and length compared to the previous scene or section?

-a good rule of thumb is this: find the line and keep the line

-there are some scenes – such as subplot scenes – that only set up the narrative drive. Go ahead and put them in. But you can never get away from the narrative line for too long without your story collapsing

-perhaps the most common technique of juxtaposition in scene weave is the crosscut. In the crosscut, you jump back and forth between two or more lines of action. This technique has two main effects

1. It creates suspense, especially when you cut back and forth at an increasing pace, as when someone is rushing to save a victim in danger.

2. It compares two lines of action, two pieces of content, and makes them equal. This expands your thematic pattern. Anytime you jump back and forth between two lines of action, you go from a simple linear development of your story (usually of a single character) to show a deeper pattern present

-Scene List. List every scene in your story. Try to describe the scene in one sentence

-Twenty-two Step Tags. Tag any scene that includes one of the twenty-two structure steps. If your story has more than one plotline or subsection, label each scene with the appropriate plotline.

-Ordering Scenes. Study the order of scenes. Make sure the scene sequences builds by structure, not chronology. 1) See if you can cut scenes 2) Look for opportunities to combine two scenes into one 3) Add a scene wherever there are gaps in the story’s development

-the crosscut’s deepest capability is to compare content, by juxtaposing characters or lines of action

Scene Construction and Symphonic Dialogue

-scenes are where the action is – literally. Using description and dialogue, you translate all the elements of premise, structure, character, moral argument, story world, symbol, plot, and scene weave into the story the audience actually experiences. This is where you make your story come alive

-a scene is defined as one action in one time and place. But what is a scene made of? How does it work?

-a scene is a ministory. This means that a good scene has six of the seven structure steps: the exception is self-revelation, which is reserved for the hero near the end of the story. The self-revelation step within a scene is usually replaced by some twist, surprise, or reveal

-to construct any scene, you must always achieve two objections: 1) Determine how it fits into and furthers the overall development of the hero. Make a good ministory

-these two requirements determine everything and the arc of the hero’s overall development always comes first

-think of a scene as an upside-down triangle

-the beginning of the scene should frame what the whole scene is about. The scene should then funnel down to a single point, with the most important word or line of dialogue stated last

-let’s look at the ideal sequence you should work through to construct a great scene. Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Position on the character arc: Where does this scene fit within the hero’s development (also known as the character arc), and how does it further that development?

2. Problems: What problems must be solved in the scene, or what must be accomplished?

3. Strategy: What strategy can be used to solve the problems?

4. Desire: Which character’s desire will drive the scene? (the character may be the hero or some other character). What does he want? This desire provides the spine of the scene)

5. Endpoint. How does that character’s desire resolve? By knowing your endpoint in advance, you can directly focus the entire scene toward that point

-the endpoint of the desire also coincides with the point of the inverted triangle, where the most important word or line of the scene is positioned. This combination of the endpoint of the desire with the key word or line creates knockout punch that also kicks the audience to the next scene

6. Opponent: Figure out who opposes the desire and what the two (or more) characters fight about

7. Plan. The character with the desire comes up with a plan to reach the goal. There are two kinds of plans that a character can use within a scene: direct and indirect

-in a direct plan, the character with the goal states directly what he wants. In an indirect plan, he pretends to want one thing while actually wanting something else. The opposing character will have one of two responses: he will recognize the deception and play along or he will be fooled and end up giving the first character exactly what he really wants

-a simple rule of thumb can help you decide which sort of plan the character should use. A direct plan increases conflict and drives characters apart. An indirect plan decreases conflict initially and brings characters together, but it can cause greater conflict later on when the deception becomes clear

-remember, the plan refers to how the character tries to reach a goal within the scene, not in the overall story

8. Conflict. Make the conflict build to a breaking point or a solution

9. Twist or reveal: Occasionally, the characters or the audience (or both) are surprised by what happens in the scene. Or one character tells another off. This is a kind of self-revelation moment in a scene, but it is not final and may even be wrong

-note that many writers, in an attempt to be “realistic,” start the scene early and build slowly, toward the main conflict. This doesn’t make the scene realistic, it makes it dull

-start the scene as late as possible without losing any of the key structure elements you need

-the classic definition of subtext is a scene where the characters don’t say what they really want. This may be true, but it doesn’t tell you how to write it

-the first think to understand about subtext is that conventional wisdom is wrong: it’s not always the best way to write the scene. Subtext characters are usually afraid, in pain, or simply embarrassed to say what they really think or want. If you want a scene with maximum conflict, don’t use subtext. On the other hand, if it’s right for your particular characters and the scene they are in, by all means use it

-a subtext scene is based on two structural elements: desire and plan. For maximum subtext, try these techniques:

-give many characters in the scene a hidden desire. These desires should be in direct conflict with one another. For example, A is secretly in love with B, but B is secretly in love with C

-have all the characters with hidden desires use an indirect plan to get what they want. They may be trying to fool the others, or they may use subterfuge they know is obvious but hope the artifice is charming enough to get them what they really want

-once you’ve constructed the scene, you use description and dialogue to write it. The fine art of description is not within the scope of a book on story. But dialogue is

-dialogue is among the most misunderstood of writing tools. One misconception has to do with dialogue’s function in the story; most writers ask their dialogue to do the heavy lifting, the work that the story structure should do. The result is dialogue that sounds stilted, forced, and phony

-but the most dangerous misconception about dialogue is the reverse of asking if to do too much, it is the mistaken belief that good dialogue is real talk

-dialogue is not real talk; it is highly selective language that sounds like it could be real

-good dialogue is always more intelligent, wittier, more metaphorical, and better argued than in real life

-even the least intelligent or uneducated character speaks at the highest level at which that person is capable. Even when a character is wrong he is wrong more eloquently than in real life

-like symbol, dialogue is a technique of the small. When layered on top of structure, character, theme, story world, symbol, plot, and scene weave, it is the subject of the storytellers tools. But it also packs tremendous punch

-dialogue is best understood as a form of music. Like music, dialogue is communication with rhythm and tone. Also, like music, dialogue is best when it blends a number of “tracks” at once. The problem most writers have is that they write their dialogue on only one track, the “melody.” This is dialogue that explains what is happening in the story. One-track dialogue is a mark of mediocre writing

-great dialogue is not a melody but a symphony, happening on three major tracks simultaneously. The three tracks are story dialogue, moral dialogue, and key words or phrases

Track 1: Story Dialogue – Melody

-story dialogue, like melody in music, is the story expressed through talk. It is talk about what the characters are doing. We tend to think of dialogue as being opposed to action: “Actions speak louder than words,” we say. But talk is a form of action. We use story dialogue when characters talk about the main action line. And dialogue can even carry the story, at least for short periods of time

-you write story dialogue the same way you construct a scene:

-Character 1, who is the lead character of the scene (and not necessarily the hero of the story), states his desire. As the writer, you should know the endpoint of that desire, because this gives you the line on which the dialogue of the scene (the spine) will hang

-Character 2 speaks against the desire

-Character 1 responds with dialogue that uses a direct or indirect plan to get what he wants

-Conversation between the two becomes more heated as the scene progresses, ending with some final words progresses, ending with some final words of anger or resolution

-an advanced dialogue technique is to have the scene progress from dialogue about action to dialogue about being. Or to put it another way, it goes from dialogue about who the characters really are. When the scene reaches the hottest point, one of the characters says some form of the words “You are…” He then gives details of what he thinks about the other person, such as “You are a liar” or “You are a no-goody, sleazy…” or “You are a winner”

-notice that this shift immediately deepens the scene because the characters are suddenly talking about how their actions define who they essentially are as human beings. The character making the claim “You are …’ is not necessarily right. But just the simple statement makes the audience sum up what they think of these characters so far in the story. This technique is a kind of self-revelation within the scene, and it often includes talk about your values (se Track 2, moral dialogue). This shift from action to being is not present in most scenes, but is usually present in key scenes

Track 2: Moral Dialogue – Harmony

-moral dialogue is talk about right and wrong action, and about values, or what makes a valuable life. Its equivalent in music is harmony, in that it provides depth, texture, and scope to the melody line. In other words, moral dialogue is not about story events. It’s about the characters’ attitudes toward those events. Here’s the sequence in moral dialogue

-Character 1 proposes or takes a course of action

-Character 2 opposes that action on the grounds that it is hurting someone

-the scene continues as each attacks and defends, with each giving reasons to support is position

-during moral dialogue, characters invariably express their values, their likes or dislikes. Remember, a character’s values are actually expressions of a deeper vision of the right way to live. Moral dialogue allows you at the most advanced level, to compare in argument not just two or more actions but two or more ways of life

Track 3: Key Words, Phrases, Taglines, and Sounds – Repetition, Variation, and Leitmotif

-key word phrases, taglines, and sounds are the third track of dialogue. These are words with the potential to carry special meaning, symbolically, or thematically, the way a symphony uses certain instruments, such as the triangle, here and there for emphasis. The trick to building this meaning is to have your characters say the word many more times than normal. The repetition, especially in multiple contexts, has a cumulative effect on the audience

-a tagline is a single line of dialogue that you repeat many times over the course of the story. Every time you use it, it gains new meaning until it becomes a kind of signature of the story. The tagline is primarily a technique for expressing theme

-let’s look at how particular kinds of scenes both execute and modify the basic principles of scene construction and symphonic dialogue

-the opening scene is the foundation of every character and every action in the story, which is why it is probably the most difficult to write well. As the first scene in the upside-down triangle that is the full story, it must set a frame around the broadest scope of the story. The first scene tells the audience generally what the story is about. But it must also be a ministory of its own, with characters and actions that are dramatically compelling and provide an opening punch

-that’s why it’s helpful to think of the first scene as an inverted triangle inside the larger triangle of the story

-in providing the big frame around the story, the opening scene also suggests the thematic patterns – of identity and opposition – that the author wants to weave throughout. But always these big patterns must be grounded in particular characters so that the scene doesn’t come across as theoretical or preachy

-the opening sentence of the story takes the principles of the opening scene and compresses them into one line. The first line is the broadest statement of the story and frames what the story will about. At the same time, it must have dramatic power, some kind of punch

-great drama is not the product of two individuals butting heads: it is the product of the values and ideas of the individuals going into battle. Conflict of values and moral argument are both forms of moral dialogue (Track 2). Conflict of values involves a fight over what people believe in. Moral Argument in dialogue involves a fight over right and wrong action

-most of the time, values come into conflict on the back of story dialogue (Track 1), because this keeps the conversation from being too obviously thematic. But if the story rises to the level of a contest between two ways of life, a head-to-head battle of values in dialogue becomes necessary

-in a head-to-head battle of values, the key is to ground the conflict on a particular course of action that the characters can fight about. But instead of focusing on the right or wrong of a particular action (moral argument), the characters fight primarily about the larger issue of what is a good or valuable way to live

-monologue is an especially valuable technique in the storyteller’s craft. Dialogue lets the writer get at truth and emotion through the crucible of conflict between two or more characters. Monologue gets at truth and emotion through the crucible of conflict a person has with himself

-a monologue is a ministory within the mind of the character. It is another form of miniature, a summation of who the character is, his central struggle, and the process he is going through over the course of the story. ‘You can use it to show the intensity of the pain the character is suffering

-to write a good monologue, you must first and foremost tell a complete story, which means, as always, hitting the seven structure steps and ending with the key word or key line last

-Anton Chekhov said that the last ninety seconds are the most important of any play. That’s because the final scene is the ultimate convergent point of the story. Occasionally, the last scene includes one more plot kick, in the form of a revelation. But usually, plot business has already been taken care of. The final scene then becomes, like the opening scene, a miniature of the entire story. The author highlights the thematic patterns one more time, and the audience realizes that this representation of characters is also the way of the larger world. In short, the audience has a thematic revelation

-to write a great closing scene, you must realize that it is the point of the upside-down triangle of the full story and that the scene itself is an upside-down triangle, with the key word or line – of the scene and the entire story – coming last

-done well, the final scene gives you the ultimate funnel effect: that the key word or line at the end sets off a huge explosion in the hearts and minds of the audience and resonates long after the story is over

The Never-Ending Story

-a great story lives forever. A great story keeps on affecting the audience long after the first telling is over. It literally keeps on telling itself

-you don’t create a never-ending story just by making it so good it’s unforgettable. The never-ending story happens only if you use special techniques embedded in the story structure

-there are three major kinds of false endings: premature, arbitrary, and closed

-the premature ending can have many causes. One is an early self-revelation. Once your hero has his big insight, his development stops, and everything else is anticlimactic. A second is a desire the hero achieves too quickly. If you then give him a new desire, you have started a new story. A third cause of a premature ending is any action you hero takes that is not believable because it’s not organic to that unique person. When you force your characters, especially your hero, to act in an unbelievable way, you immediately kick the audience out of the story because the plot “mechanics” come to the surface. The audiences realizes the character is acting a certain way because you need him to act that way (mechanical) and not because he needs to (organic)

-an arbitrary end is one in which the story just stops. This is almost always the result of an inorganic plot. The plot is not tracking the development of one entity, whether it is a single main character or a unit of society. If nothing is developing, the audience has no sense of something coming to fruition or playing itself out

-the most common false ending is the closed ending. The hero accomplishes his goal, gains a simple self-revelation, and exists in a new equilibrium where everything is calm. All three of these structural elements give the audience the sense that story is complete and the system has come to rest. But that’s not true. Desire never stops. Equilibrium is temporary. The self-revelation is never simple, and it cannot guarantee the hero a satisfying life from that day forward. Since a great story is always a living thing, its ending is no more final and certain than any other part of the story

-since a story is always a whole, and the organic end is found in the beginning, a great story always ends by signaling to the audience to go back to the beginning and experience it again. The story is an endless cycle – a Mobius strip – that is always different because the audience is always rethinking it in light of what just happened

-the simplest way to create the never-ending story is through plot, by ending the story with a reveal. In this technique, you create an apparent equilibrium and then immediately shatter it with one more surprise. This reversal causes the audience to rethink all the characters and actions that have led them to this point

-the reversal reveal, while shocking, is the most limited way of creating the never-ending story. It gives you only one more cycle with the audience. The plot was not what they first thought. But now they know: There will be no more surprises. Using this technique, you don’t get a never-ending story so much as a twice-told tale

-to tell a story that feels different over and over again, you don’t have to kill your plot. But you do have to use every system of the story body. If you weave a complex tapestry of character, plot, theme, symbol, scene, and dialogue, you will not be limit how many times the audience retells the story. They will have to rethink so many story elements that the permutations become infinite and the story never dies. Here are just a few of the elements you can include to create an infinite story tapestry

-the hero fails to achieve his desire, and the other characters come up with a new desire at the end of the story. This prevents the story from closing down and shows the audience that desire, even when it’s foolish or hopeless, never dies (“I want; therefore, I am”)

-give a surprising character change to an opponent or a minor character. This technique can lead the audience to see the story again with that person as the true hero

-place a tremendous number of details in the long background of the story world that on later viewings move to the foreground

-add elements of texture – in character, moral argument, symbol, plot, and story world – that become much more interesting once the audience has seen the plot surprises and the hero’s character change

-create a relationship between the storyteller and the other characters that is fundamentally different once the viewer has seen the plot for the first time. Using an unreliable storyteller is one, but only one way of doing this